/ Op-Ed
Remembering the 50th Anniversary of Kennedy's Assassination
Many of us who were young enough to experience this event
were deeply touched by his assassination. I remember being in school watching
people openly crying. We were let out of school early that day. I was left
wondering why so many people were openly crying after he was assassination. I
think the Camelot mystique probably played some role. He was the first Roman
Catholic president, handsome, smart, had a beautiful wife and that certainly
helped the mystique. But more than that, he was arriving on the scene during a
time when the country was deeply divided along racial and political lines. Many
Americans were beginning to turn against the Vietnamese War and African
Americans were demanding equal rights. The rise of the Soviet
Union and the Cuban Missile Crisis were creating dangerous
situations around the world. President
Kennedy eloquently spoke to these situations in poetic vernacular language that
the average citizen could understand. He encouraged people to think outside of
the bag, to put the country first. Everyone can remember his famous quote when
he said: don’t ask for what the country can do for you, but what you can do for
the country. In his speeches he often spoke about the Jeffersonian Ideal of
treating all men and women as equal citizens.
African Americans rallied around him because they felt he was willing to
challenge Jim Crow Laws in the South and work for a more integrated society. Leaders like Martin Luther King often reminded
Kennedy that the country was not living up to the constitutional principles and
Kennedy agreed. Kennedy knew the United States had become a global
power and that the country could not challenge other countries ‘equal right
laws while denying it own citizens equal rights. I would like to wish everyone
a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. “Fight the Power, Question Reality”.
Raymond Glenn
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